Today I am heading back home. The previous day my cousin recommended that I have breakfast with his girlfriend’s brother (Sam) who was staying the night at his house to allow my cousin time to pack his lunch and get to work. Because my cousin had work earlier we thought it would be best to eat without him and allow him to have a leisurely morning. We left about the same time as he did so that he could lock the door to the house behind us. While Sam was packing up his suitcase, which he brought over to my cousins house for the two nights I looked up the address of the restaurant where we were to eat for breakfast.
After putting our suitcases into my rental car we headed over to Original Pancake House in the center of Eugene. I was a bit afraid that this restaurant would be crowded today given it was a Sunday but it wasn’t. In fact we found our seats shortly upon arrival. For food I ordered a corned beef scrabble along with a side of bacon, Sam ordered a blueberry waffle. After ordering our food Sam and me discussed movies and bar tendering which he has a great interest in despite his young age. He was telling me he wanted to open a bar eventually in his hometown of Junction City. I encouraged him to follow up on these dreams.
Shortly our meals arrived on our table. Sam’s waffles were adorned will a small hill of whipping cream and blueberries scattered across the plate. My scramble was humongous covering the entire plate with scrambled egg and thickly cut slices of corned beef. I was only able to eat a quarter of this dish since I have recently become accustomed to eater smaller food portions. Frankly I did not enjoy my dish that much, the eggs were a little dry for my liking. Sam on the other hand had no problems finishing his waffle – it only took him a few minutes to devour the entire plate. I was impressed at the speed at which he consumed his waffle.
Sam gave me cash for his portion of the meal and I paid the rest of it on my credit card. Afterwards I drove him to his house in Junction City, which was about thirteen miles away from the restaurant. One long boulevard took us directly to Junction City passing by a mixture of both agrarian and industrial landscapes. Shortly after entering Junction City we turned off the main road and arrived at Sam’s house. I had helped him with his suitcase and brought it into the house and said hello to his family for a few minutes.
After come back into my rental car I had noticed the fuel level was about halfway. I thought I could probably make my way to Portland with the amount of gasoline remaining but I didn’t want to push it. On my way out of Junction City I stopped at a Conoco gas station and waited in line for the station attendant to pump gasoline inside of my vehicle. In Oregon you are not allowed to pump gasoline, so you have to wait for a station employee to fill your car for you. Only one person was manning the entire station so I had to wait quite a long time for him to put gasoline in my vehicle at this apparently popular station.
Once the attendant was finally ready to serve me I told him I wanted $10 of 87 octane and with an under the breath grunt he pulled the pump out and inserted the nozzle into my rental’s gasoline filler to start the filling. Throughout this waiting time a line had formed behind my car so I felt pressured to move quickly even though I was not allowed to do anything at the gas station. The attendant had came back to replace the gasoline filler and complete the transaction. I asked him for the receipt to which he replied, “Give it a second” while he walked away to help another customer.
Taking my receipt out of the gas pump I proceeded my way towards Portland. As it was on Thursday the drive was fairly easy with minimal traffic. The scenery was mostly farming lands with the occasional small town. Even Salem, which is the capital of Oregon that I passed through, looked like a very small town. Crossing into Portland however the traffic had increased slightly but not to a point where it hindered my progress. I was lucky to bring a long GPS navigation because there were many different freeways and off ramps in the city, which I am sure would be quite confusing to new drivers without some guidance. However once I approached the airport it was quite easy to find my way towards the rental car area to drop off my car.
I dropped off my car at Enterprise and after collecting my things from the car I handed the keys to an employee who checked in my car. I proceeded to the airport terminal to check into my flight. I had tried checking in at my cousin’s house earlier but his printer didn’t work, so I had to check in with the attendant again to get my boarding print out. I shown the lady at the check in counter my driver’s license and she quickly handed me my boarding pass, I than headed to security where they screened my carry on baggage. This time nothing was confiscated from my bag unlike last Thursday when a few of my toiletry items were taken from me because of their size.
Arriving into the main terminal where my flight was to leave from I had about an hour before my flight was to board. I passed the time by getting lunch at one of the restaurants in the terminal called “Good Dog/Bad Dog” which specialized in gourmet sausages. I had ordered a Polish Kielbasa with grilled onions and deli mustard. It was good and filling. I than went to a store across the hallway to find local jam for my mother which had requested for me to bring some jam home from Oregon. I found marionberry jam (a variety of blackberry invented by OSU in conjunction with the USDA), which I understand is a local specialty, and purchased that from that store. I headed quickly to the gate which my flight was to leave from, after a few minutes my flight begun the boarding process.
The flight it self was easy and went by fairly quickly. It was a clear day and I even caught a glimpse of Yosemite from above through the plane window. I made out Half Dome and the waterfall that is inside the park. Though no meal was provided on the plane ride the attendant came by several times to deliver a variety of beverages. I ordered water both times. One of the ones sitting next to me had fallen asleep and was snoring. Because the seating was so close together I found it difficult to make even the slightest move without accidentally bumping him and disrupting his slumber.
The plane arrived in Santa Ana and took a few minutes to taxi to the gate. Once the doors of the airplane were open everyone seemingly was in a mad dash to gather their belongings and depart the airplane. My father was nice enough to pick me up from the airport and took me home.
